364 



OUR STAY AT NDORO 



of the central pyramid and the rocky culminating peak. The 

 western side is so precipitous that snow can only remain on it 

 here and there, and on this account the Masai call it the 

 Oldonyo egere, or the spotted mountain. 1 Kenia, the Wakamba 

 name, means simply the big mountain, and, as already stated, 

 the Wakikuyu call it Kilimara. 



It was not until late the next morning that the quiet of our 

 camp, now in complete order, was broken, by the arrival of a 

 number of Wakikuyu with food for sale ; unfortunately only 

 enough for our daily needs, and when we said we should have 

 liked more, we were told the harvest had failed. 



A daily distraction which always delighted us afresh was 

 the return home from pasture of our flocks and herds. It was 

 pleasant to watch the joy of the mother cows at getting back 

 to their young, and now and then we had an addition to our 

 family of animals. We took care to count the cattle, &c. ? 

 every day when they came back, to check any disposition of 

 our men to add a little beef to their daily rations. We had 

 now always plenty of fresh milk, but not any too much, as so 

 many of our people were suffering from dysentery. 



The natives also brought eight grey donkeys for sale, which 

 were as welcome as they were unexpected, for of the fifty-nine 

 with which we had entered Kikuyuland, only twenty-three 

 remained, and of the twenty-five we had bought on the coast, 

 not one had survived. In spite of this terrible mortality, how- 

 ever, I would still advocate the use of donkeys in districts 

 where it is difficult to get enough food for porters. 



On October 13 we had yet another visitor from Kikuyu in 

 the person of an infirm old man, who brought with him a goat 

 and a pot of hone}^ in the hope that we would make rain. He 

 explained that he was the Leibon of the frontier district, and 

 hearing of our magic power, he had not shrunk from the long 



1 The Masai also call it the Oldonyo ebor, or black mountain. — Trans. 



